Charlton 3 - Bolton 2: Yann Kermorgant finds safe spot for Addicks

We were saying before the game that we had to start sharply, and do our best to win the game

Yann Kermorgant

The Frenchman whacked home the spot kick that turned around a two goal deficit to stun Bolton, adding to strikes by Johnnie Jackson and Dorian Dervite. The loss was a hammer blow for Bolton, who had Samuel Ricketts and Craig Davies sent off in a game they should have buried.

Kermorgant said: “At 2-0 down, I was thinking what was going on?

“We were saying before the game that we had to start sharply, and do our best to win the game – and we started slowly. We were going to lose by more than two goals.

“At half time, our manager said that if you continue the second half like you ended the first then we could do much better and get back and get the three points. We had to believe.”

Having infamously chipped a penalty straight to the keeper for Leicester in the 2010 play-off semi-finals, Kermorgant was in no doubt about what he would do this time.

“Today, I used a different way of taking the penalty, even today at 2-2 it was the best time to score.

There was great pressure, but I like to shoot the penalty,” he added.

There was no sign of the drama to come when Marvin Sordell shot from inside the box for his seventh of the season.

Medo Kamara doubled Bolton’s lead with a drive from outside the box.

With just one win at home in the last 10 games, it perhaps wasn’t a surprise that Charlton fans greeted the scoreline with booing.

However, their gripes turned to cheers soon afterwards, when captain Jackson struck low to give the Addicks a lifeline.

The goal seemed to gee up Charlton against a Bolton side who then went on the back foot.

The contest was turned on its head in a crazy four minute spell around the hour mark, which started with a red card for Ricketts.

Then, Dervite pounced on the loose ball from a Kermorgant’s free-kick, before the Frenchman netted his ninth of the season from the spot.

Bolton’s misery was complete when Craig Davies was dismissed and their defender Zak Knight was booked after the game for arguing with referee Trevor Kettle.

“The referee told me in the first half ‘control your players’ because he thought we’d made some bad tackles,” said Knight.

“Looking back at it, they had done a few late challenges on us.

“Right at the end I went to speak to him but he didn’t want to know and pushed me away.

“Being a player and frustrated because we had lost, I carried on saying what I was saying and once again the arm went up in the air with a yellow card in his hand.”

With Kevin Davies not having his contract renewed this week, Knight believed the Bolton stalwart would still help with their play-off push.